Wednesday, 20 March 2013

Report from FAC meeting

Fans Against Criminalisation met
on Monday 18 March in response to recent events. We now release the following
statement detailing our future plans:

Back in October 2011, 2000 Celtic
fans rallied at George Square in protest at the Offensive Behaviour at Football
Bill that was proceeding through the Scottish Parliament at the time. We argued
then that the Bill and the disproportionate policing we had begun to see at
matches was criminalising football supporters. Events since then, culminating
in the scenes we witnessed on Saturday when police attacked fans on the
Gallowgate, have only served to prove us right.

Fans Against Criminalisation is an
independent umbrella group comprising the Green Brigade, Celtic Trust, Celtic
Supporters Association, Affiliation of Registered Celtic Supporters Clubs and
Association of Irish Celtic Supporters Clubs, representing thousands of Celtic
fans. As well as recent events, the groups who make up FAC also discussed the
issue of meetings which took place between Celtic and two of the supporters’
organisations in November 2012 at which videos were shown. The issue was discussed fully and
all sides were able to give accounts of what happened. It was accepted by all
sides that while the way it was handled was not what it should have been but
there was no malice intended by the fan reps involved and no incident like this would occur again. We
then moved on to discuss how we would respond to what has happened and restart
our campaign against the criminalisation of the Celtic support.

All groups were in agreement that
now, more than ever, we need a united front of Celtic fans against not just the
Act but also the wider issues of police harassment and the disproportionate
policing we see in our stands and now on our streets. We have organised the
following public events and we call on all Celtic fans to support these:

there will be an opportunity for
anyone who was present on Saturday to come and give a witness statement which
will be compiled to produce a full report on Saturday’s events. These
statements will allow us to respond to Strathclyde Police’s defence of their
actions without revealing names or contact details of the witnesses.
There will also be an opportunity for people to provide this information
online. We call on those who were directly involved to make a formal
complaint to Strathclyde Police but we recognise that many people won’t feel
able to. We will support and assist those who do make a complaint while taking
evidence ourselves from those who don’t wish to

Tuesday 2nd April: protest/picket (venue to be announced)

Saturday 6 April, Rally and Demonstration in George Square, 12pm (including launch
of a petition to call for an official inquiry into the police action)

Wednesday 24th April, Demonstration outside the Scottish Parliament and
submission of the petition